Craven Political Crudites

I read the opinion article "Craven Political Crudites" by Frank Bruni in the New York Times. It criticized the ridiculous point politicians have reached in misquoting and skewing their opponents' words to say outlandish things. Particularly he discusses Mitt Romney, who recently grossly skewed a quote of Obama's to make him look uninterested in the economy. Romney was caught for it, and instead of retreating he embraced what he had done, refusing to apologize for amping up his campaign. Romney actually ended up looking better for this move, as it highlighted his personal high placement of the economy.
Bruni then talked about the broader set of ideals this is representative of. America only cares about how a product is sold, not the actual quality of the product. We go to brand names instead of buying the exact same products for less money.
I think this is a terrifying ideal system when put into the context of politics. Bipartisanship right now has reached a disgustingly toxic level. We are totally incapable of putting aside our team memberships to solve problems, and that is going to be injurious come this next election.